Australian APVMA opens interim office in Armidale

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is open for business in Armidale with an interim office established at 246 Beardy Street that will support the agency’s transition from Canberra to Armidale in 2019.
 

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Barnaby Joyce, officially opened the interim office on April 27.
 

A small team of locally recruited APVMA staff will work out of the Beardy Street premises, ensuring local liaison with the Armidale community and connecting the APVMA’s regulatory operations in Canberra to the agency’s new home in regional Australia.
 

The interim office will also act as a headquarters for the APVMA relocation team, giving Canberra-based staff a place to work from when they travel to Armidale.
 

The premises provides work spaces, secure facilities and meeting rooms to support the APVMA to progress work on the design, procurement and construction of the agency’s purpose built facility that will be required in 2019.
 

The APVMA’s interim office is co-located with the Department of Human Services (DHS), which provides the level of security required and type of accommodation necessary to accommodate APVMA staff and its information.
 

Extensive planning is underway to permanently relocate the agency to Armidale in 2019.